Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life

In 2004, James Blake's life was getting more perfect by the day. A rising tennis star, with each passing year his game seemed to improve. In 2002, he was named Sexiest Male Athlete by People, and along the way he continued to gain in the rankings and earn respect on the court. Each day seemed to offer a new milestone, a new achievement; he was leading a charmed life and loving every minute of the ride.

But that life came to an abrupt halt in May 2004 when Blake broke his back in a freak accident on the court. A few months later, as Blake was recovering from his injury, he suffered another tremendous setback when his father–the man who had raised him and provided the inspiration for his tennis career–lost his battle with stomach cancer. Shortly after his father's death, Blake's situation was further complicated when he contracted Zoster, a rare virus that paralyzed half of his face and threatened to end his already jeopardized tennis career.

Breaking Back tells the story of the tumultous year that followed these three devastating events, detailing how Blake persevered through hardship to become one of the best tennis players in the world. Here Blake explains how the wisdom and words that his father imparted to him over the years gave him the ability to succeed in the face of these seemingly insurmountable odds. Though these trials proved the most difficult of his life, ultimately this trifecta of tragedy became the culmination of all his father's lessons, showing Blake that even in death, his father was still teaching him how to be a man.

In the spirit of Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking comes this remarkable tale of strength and determination from one of tennis's biggest stars. A story of passion, willpower, and the unbreakable bonds between a father and a son, Breaking Back is one athlete's account of finding hope in the bleakest of times.

From inside the book

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Page A story of passion, willpower, and the unbreakable bonds between a father and a
son, Breaking Back is one athlete's ... by Ron C. Angle (continued on back flap)
0707 “ I have had the privilege to meet many of the world's great- est athletes.

Page 7 From there, we will continue to travel and play on and off for the better part of the
next eleven months. Success in professional sports is a funny thing. You might
say that pro athletes live with three certainties looming over them: Death, taxes, ...

Page 8 Like many young athletes, I was having too much fun for such weighty
introspection. The ATP tour is like a kind of traveling neverland, where no one
forces you to grow up. So a lot of the guys are indistinguishable from overgrown ...

Page 9 It's a dream come true, because most of us grew up idolizing professional athletes and can hardly believe we've become one ourselves, and the higher you
climb, the more surreal it gets. People recognize you on the street; designers
throw ...

Page 15 ... with my body and anxiously aware of the butterflies that were inhabiting my
entire stomach. Somehow, I pulled myself together, and before long, I was in the
midst of one of those nights that athletes dream of, when everything just clicked
and ...

Well Written

User Review - sugarhill203 - Overstock.com

I found the book interesting and easy to read due to the content and good writting. Being a tennis fan I found the book to show the reasons the commentators use very positive words describing James Blake. James his mother and brother are always shown respect when referring to them.Read full review

About the author (2007)

James Blake has been a professional tennis player since 1999, when he left Harvard to join the professional tennis circuit. He grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, and currently resides in Tampa, Florida.